允議招親 The Widow Relents
那婦人道:「既然幹得家事,你再去與你師父商量商量看,不尷尬,便招你罷。」八戒道:「不用商量,他又不是我的生身父母,幹與不幹,都在於我。」婦人道:「也罷,也罷,等我與小女說。」看他閃進去,撲的掩上後門。那妇人道:「既然干得家事,你再去与你师父商量商量看,不尴尬,便招你罢。」八戒道:「不用商量,他又不是我的生身父母,干与不干,都在于我。」妇人道:「也罢,也罢,等我与小女说。」看他闪进去,扑的掩上后门。
逐句解 Line by line
The woman said, "Since you can manage the housework, go and talk it over once more with your master; if there's no awkwardness in it, I'll take you in."
幹得家事, able to do the housework, takes the light de. 不尷尬, nothing awkward about it; 招你, take you in. Note the ground she has moved to: not looks, not vows, but whether he can run a house. She has accepted his own pitch on his own terms.
Bajie said, "No need to talk it over — he is not my own natural parent; whether I do it or not rests with me alone."
生身父母, the parents who bore you. 幹與不幹, 都在於我 — to do it or not rests entirely with me, with 都 as dōu. An hour ago he was hiding behind the emperor's orders and his brothers' refusal. Now he throws off his teacher's authority as well.
The woman said, "Well then, well then — let me speak with my girls."
也罷, 也罷 — very well, very well. 等我與小女說, let me speak to my daughters. She has what she came for.
He watched her slip inside and, with a bang, pull the back gate shut.
閃進去, darted in; 撲的掩上, swung it shut with a bang, with 上 as the completing tail. The second slammed door of the chapter, and this one closes on a bargain rather than a refusal.
Her answer seals Bajie's self-betrayal. Satisfied that this ungainly monk can at least manage a household, she agrees in principle: settle it with your master, and if nothing stands in the way she will take him in. The match she was refused in the hall she now half-grants at the gate, to the one disciple who came looking for it.
Bajie's reply throws off the last restraint he had. He needs no permission from Tripitaka, he says, because the master is not his natural parent and the decision is his alone. Having sheltered behind the emperor's command and his brothers' refusal all evening, he now repudiates his teacher too. It is the plainest measure so far of how completely the offer has taken him.
The banged gate closes the covert scene as the slammed inner door closed the public one, but to the opposite effect: the first shut the pilgrims out in rebuff, this one shuts on a bargain half struck. Bajie will go back to the others pleased with himself, not knowing that Wukong saw everything — and that the four saints' contrivance is now ready to spring.